title: Diversity and distribution of amphibians in Romania.
abstract: Nineteen species of amphibians inhabit Romania, 9 of which reach their range limit on this territory. Based on published occurrence reports, museum collections and our own data we compiled a national database of amphibian occurrences. We georeferenced 26779 amphibian species occurrences, and performed an analysis of their spatial patterns, checking for hotspots and patterns of species richness. The results of spatial statistic analyses supported the idea of a biased sampling for Romania, with clear hotspots of increased sampling efforts. The sampling effort is biased towards species with high detectability, protected areas, and large cities. Future sampling efforts should be focused mostly on species with a high rarity score in order to accurately map their range. Our results are an important step in achieving the long-term goals of increasing the efficiency of conservation efforts and evaluating the species range shifts under climate change scenarios.
authors.affiliation: University Ovidius Constanţa, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Agricultural Sciences, Al. Universităţii 1, corp B, Constanţa 900470, Romania.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Cogălniceanu
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Székely
authors.forename: Ciprian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Samoilă
authors.forename: Iosif
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ruben
authors.forename: Marian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tudor
authors.forename: Rodica
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Plăiaşu
authors.forename: Florina
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Stănescu
authors.forename: Laurenţiu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Rozylowicz
keywords: Amphibia; biodiversity data; rarity; species distribution; species range; species richness